Richard Grenville
Sir Richard Grenville (15 June 1542 – 10 September 1591) (sp. var: Greynvile, Greeneville or Greenfield) was an English sailor, sea captain and explorer. He took part in the early English attempts to settle the New World, and also participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada. He died in 1591 at the Battle of Flores, characteristically fighting against overwhelming odds, and refusing to surrender his ship to the far more numerous Spanish. He was the grandfather of Sir Richard Grenville, of English Civil War fame.
Read more about Richard Grenville: Early Life, Career, New World and The Spanish Armada, Final Command and Death, Legacy and Honours, In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words richard and/or grenville:
“I have seen in this revolution a circular motion of the sovereign power through two usurpers, father and son, to the late King to this his son. For ... it moved from King Charles I to the Long Parliament; from thence to the Rump; from the Rump to Oliver Cromwell; and then back again from Richard Cromwell to the Rump; then to the Long Parliament; and thence to King Charles, where long may it remain.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,
And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from far away:
‘Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!’”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)